


Love at First Fight

by 11Seamonkeys11



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games), Mortal Kombat - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gay Male Character, M/M, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat X - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-09-09 05:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8876974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/11Seamonkeys11/pseuds/11Seamonkeys11
Summary: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯Mortal Kombat AU where they're all in high school and angsty.First Fic and constructive criticism is welcome.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Comment whatever ya want, if u want.

Over the past 3 years of middle school, we believed we'd all stick together through high school as well. Oh boy were we mistaken. "Beep" , "Ugh", I grunt at the alarm clock as I slowly get up and pull on my pants. "C'mon Takahashi, its time for your first day of high school", my father tells me from outside my room door. I pull on my clothing and I hurry out the door with my school stuff as my father reassured me of my first day jitters. (And if you were wondering, "Oh but you are the master teen ninja Takahashi Takeda, I thought you were fearless", well I'm not) Even if I seem amazing and popular, I'm actually quite the nerd.

I arrive at my high school , Edenia High school. I look around to find my friends; Cassie and Jin (Kung Jin) . I eventually find Kung Jin, he is with this peculiar girl who I soon realize is Sareena, who I rarely see around the school . Jin was always a lady's man, but most of them weren't serious, just flings, so I wasn't worried. I leave Jin to his business as I look for my other friends.

"Hey", I greet to Cassie. She says hello back as we start walking to our first class, "Math 101". as we walk in we see that havoc has already been brought onto the room. Ironically, Havok is in our class this year, so its fitting the classroom is in such chaos. Our teacher Mr. Nightwolf quickly gets tired of the insanity.

"SILENCE!!!", he yells at the top of his voice. As the class settles down, he gives instructions. "Ok class, I know your all very nervous since its your first day of high school, but I promise to try to make it as easy as possible for you." "OK, so please class open your books to Page 108", he explains.

I get my math book out as I hear a slight whisper, "Hey". It's a pretty girl with black hair. "Umm hey", i respond nervously

"I seem to have a misplaced my pencil, do you have one I can borrow?"

"Umm yea, yea I believe I do."

I quickly and obviously nervously grab a blue pencil out of my backpack and hand it to her.

"Thanks, and I'm Jacqueline , but you can call me Jacqui, what's your name

"Huh, oh my name is Takahashi. "

"K cool Takahashi , well see you later, thanks for the pencil"

"Yea uh no problem," I respond

Ring!!! Ring!!! Ring!!! Ring!!!

I grab my backpack and my textbook and hurry out to meet up with my friends before the next period. I eventually find Jin in the commons grabbing a snack out of his backpack. "Hey Jin". I said casually. "Oh, Wassup bro" he responded.

"Nothing much, but just outta curiosity, Who was the girl you were talking to outside?"

"Oh, her name is Sareena, she is actually really cool."

"Uhh ok, have fun with that." I said passingly.

Once i walk to 2nd period, the next two periods just flew by.

I sit with my friends except for Jin, he's probably with his girlfriend, we eat and talk about how our summer was and what we all did. Until, I see Jacqui walking with the cheerleaders, I never knew she was on the cheer-leading squad, well to be honest I didn't really know anything about her.

The girls on the cheer-leading team were the most foul creatures and by that I mean they were rude to anyone who wasn't a cheerleader.

There was D'vorah, or as everyone calls her Vora, she is somewhat of an outcast among them, but she is still equally as rude as the rest. There is also, Li Mei, but she prefers to be called Mei, there was also her sister Sareena (Jin's girlfriend). They were quite different from each other, Li Mei was deceitful and rude, while Sareena was nice and honest. Tanya was the leader of the groups 'Right Hand in Command' and she was faker than the Barbie doll my little cousin has, one second she is your best friend and the next second she is calling you a bitch and hates you forever. Then there is the Queen Bee of school Mileena. She hates everyone, especially her sister Kitana who is dating Liu Kang (Captain of the football team). Mileena, has no talent, but since her mother, Sindel is the cheer-leading coach and her father, Shao Khan, is the principal, she gets to be the head of the cheer-leading team.

As I slowly turn my attention back to my friends, they already realize what i was looking at. "Ooh does our little Kashi have a crush?", they said in unison. "No", I said defensively. However, I suck at lying so I just told them everything eventually.

"Awww, that is so adorable," they replied.

"Hey, be quiet it barely happened today," I said in my defense.

"Ok, ok don't cry,"

I shot them a dirty look to reply, which signaled for them to chill.

The bell rang, then I went through out my day rarely seeing Jacqui the rest of the day. I decide to walk instead of taking the bus with Cassie and Jin. Since, I needed a little time to reflect on my first day I decided to take the long way to my house. As I approach my front door's steps I realize it's already 4:30 when I get home and my dad will be home soon.

I quickly unlock the door and find myself picking up everything I see and running around idiotically looking for stuff to clean. Once I realize that my job has been done I go to my room and lay down on my bed. I pull out my phone and take a glance at my Friendships page, I notice i have a new friend request from a Jacqueline Briggs. I quickly accept, realizing that she was that new girl I met at school today.

I message Jin and ask him for help on how to deal with this whole, "Jacqui Situation".

"Hey bro", I said.

"Aye, what's going on man", He replied swiftly.

"This whole Jacqui Situation is really confusing me, you have been with a lot of girls, how should I approach this whole thing?"

"Well first of all, you are such a nervous wreck, you have to get some confidence, because chicks dig when a guy is confident in himself."

"Oh ok, what else?"

"Well, also you need to have some swagger and act cool when you're around her or she's going to think that you're a loser, bro."

"Well ok, how does one get swagger and confidence?"

"I don't know man, just be your self and believe in yourself and then she'll be all over you,"

"Ok thanks man, I really need those pointers,"

"No problem dude, but look I have to go I'm meeting Sareena at the Outworld Market/Mall but I'll talk to you later, adios dude.", He concluded.

I decide to take a little nap before dinner time. I dream about Jacqui and I finally built up the courage to ask her out and we eventually got married, and had twins and we lived happily ever after.

I woke up an hour later, coming to the sad realization that it was all a dream and I hadn't actually did it yet. I trudge silently to the kitchen to see if dinner had been prepared yet. As I get closer I smell dinner, it is spicy sushi rolls with this yummy dipping sauce. I speed up my walking pace and see my father finishing the last touches of our meal.

"Hey Takahashi, how was your first day.", He said openly

"It was good.", I replied shortly

We ate in ultimate silence and I could tell he knew something was on my mind. Ironically, he is a telepath so it only makes sense.

"Takeda"

"Can I help you"

"Who's the girl you were thinking about"

I blushed and replied, "Get out of my head"

"C'mon tell me then", He then spoke

"Why, since when did you start to care about me"

"You know the only reason I left was to make you a great warrior with Scorpion"

"I know, let's just eat and be done with this conversation".

We finished our dinner in peace and I went to sleep early, because I wanted to avoid any unnecessary banter with Kenshi"

First Semester went by quickly, yet I have not done anything about asking Jacqui out. I am hoping to grow the balls to do it before Winter Break, but then again that would mean I'd have to buy her a Christmas present and her birthday is February 1st, so if it happens I am gonna need a job.

However, that is the least of my issues at the moment. So it's a week away from break and I trudge through the snow to make it to school on time. I arrive 15 minutes before the bell, so I look through the crowds of people to find Cassie and Jin. I then bump into somebody and we both fall to the ground in a pile of the other person's paper.

"Hey watch it buddy", I shout at the person.

"Oh I'm so sorry,.... Takahashi?", Jacqui apologizes.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry I didn't realize it was you". I replied guiltily.

"Oh don't worry, I can take it. I take boxing classes after school on the weekends".

"That's cool, I was trained in martial arts by my dad's friend Hanzo".

"Oh my god, that's awesome maybe we can spar after school or something".

"Yes, yes, yes, that sounds fun or whatever, yeah that sounds like it'd be good for the both of us". 

"So I'm busy today, how about tomorrow after school we can walk home together and then spar a bit, as long as you don't mind getting beat by a girl".

We talked for a little while as we walked to our 1st period. Mr. Nightwolf was at the front of the classroom wearing his usual traditional Native American attire.  
"Ok, class settle down. Today we will be picking groups for our new project." He announced.

Mileena you're with Havok, Ermac, Rain, and Kano. Takahashi you're with Cassandra, Kung Jin, and........... Jacqueline.

My heart skipped a beat once he said her name. I mean I wanted her in my group but with my luck it wasn't much of a possibility.

We got straight to work after we got the directions and materials. Jacqui and the gang immediately hit it off and it looked like we had recruited a new member, of our group that is.

After the bell we all headed to the rest of our classes. After, 3rd period we all headed to lunch. I swear this gruel is atrocious, but when you're hungry, you'll eat it. However, food was the last thing on mind.

We sat and talked about the project and stuff that interests us and it was actually cool. I just hoped she wouldn't take my invitation in the wrong way. Once lunch was over Cassie and Jacqui headed to their 4th period, health, while me and Jin headed to gym, as we made our way there I felt it was a good time to ask him a question.

"Hey Jin, do you mind if I ask you a question?" I asked.

"Of course, whats up dude?" He replied almost choking on the rest of his sandwich.

"Well it's just that I'm wondering if maybe Jacqui could be interpreting my invitation to our group wrong."

"Dude, first off chill. Second, you need to talk to Jacqui about this not me. It's her you're trying to date not me unless you are." He replies while backing up on me in a kidding way.

We both laugh and head to gym before the bell rings. As we are walking to gym we notice that we are going to play dodgeball, my favorite. However, much to my dismay, jin dislikes dodgeball quite a bit.

We head into the gym and after the teacher takes role, we go into the Locker room and get dressed. The boys locker room smells repulsive, I honestly believe that none of these boys takes a shower. I try to get dressed as fast as possible, in order to keep consciousness. I walk out of the locker room door just as the smell grows and practically becomes visible.

Jin comes out of the locker room a moment later, but he is on the phone with somebody, presumably his girlfriend, Sareena. As much as I hate to be nosey (No i don't) I listen to their conversation, while hiding behind the bleachers.

"......yes, I heard you babe. You know what, I don't care and I don't need this. I'm sorry to tell you this but I'm breaking up with you, bye." He says in a frustrated yet completely indifferent by the conversation.

" Hey, bud what was that about?" I ask hesitantly.

"Ah nothing, just Sareena and I are over now, but its okay she was too demanding anyway." He replied passingly.

"Oh okay, well if you wanna talk about it later, I'm here for you."

"Thanks, that means a lot that you care, I couldn't ask for a better friend." He said genuinely

In those moments I saw something in Jin that I haven't seen in forever. That was Vulnerability, but it wasn't from his break up. It was from a change that he was going through that he seemed to be keeping a secret.

If I wanted to I would've found out with a flick of my finger but I decided to leave his thoughts alone. Anyways, he looks like he could tell I was in his mind, so I stopped.

We were somewhat staring at each other for a little while just getting lost in each others' eyes. (I know this sounds kinda weird, or whatever, but we are both straight as far as anyone is concerned).

I notice the little things in these moments, like how Kung Jin is exactly 1 inch shorter in height than I am. However, he makes that one inch up in being much more toned and built than I am.

I'm wondering why I thought of that for though. I try not to think about it so much, but it's hard not to for some reason. So I stand there trying to not look at him.

*Whistle*

We finally snap back to reality. We both look blushed and we both awkwardly move towards the circle of other boys getting ready to play dodgeball.

After gym, we both ignore each other for the rest of the day. As soon as I get home I can't help but look at his Friendship page, I don't know why but the sight of seeing the "Single" update makes me happy.


	2. Love at First Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set in a couple weeks later

The rest of our Freshman year went by surprisingly fast. However, I still had made no advancements in my quest for love, but today I promised myself that I would finally ask her. Beforehand tho, I asked Cassie for help on how I should do it.

"Hey Cassie, I need to ask you a question." I began.

"You need help asking Jacqui out ,don't you." She responded.

"Wait, how'd you know?"

"My mom is Sonya, I have her intuition, plus you talk very loud."

"You also have your dad's snark." I say jokingly.

"Fight me." She said laughing.

" Whatever, but can you help me with this?"

"Yeah, yeah, here is what you need to do...."

She explained to me exactly what I needed to know. So the next day I decided that I should finally make my move.

As soon as I got to school I was all ready and about to do it. Until, I saw something that was unforseen. It was Jacqui kissing some guy, it looked like Rain. I didn't know why I was so hurt, it's not like she had showed any previous interest in me. Yet, I still felt betrayal, I went to find my friends to update them on my situation.

I find Cassie sitting at a table in the Lunch room talking with her mom and dad.

"Hi, Mr.Cage and Ms.Blade". I greeted.

"Wassup, kid." Mr.Cage said.

"Hey, Takeda, how are you?" Ms.Blade asked.

"I'm okay."

I could tell she knew something was up, but she didn't say anything about it. However, we still exchanged a look that we understood each other.

"Well me and your dad are gonna go get stuff ready for our classes, bye sweetie." Sonya concluded.

I snickered at Cassie once they left. She slugged me a good one in the arm, because of it. Then she laughed at my pain and after she stopped dying I explained my situation to her. She told me to just get over her and that Jacqui only likes me as a friend, so i should find some new obsession.

I decided to take Cassie's advice, but it wasn't going to be easy. I had liked her for a long time now. I said goodbye to Cassie and went to see if i could find Jin.

I looked all around the school and I could not find him. I finally concluded my search by checking the Gym. Where I find a group of boys, I walk over to them to see if they have seen Jin. I look and see if they saw him, they said, he was in the locker room.

I didn't question them and went into the locker room. I find Jin in the bathroom stall in the locker room.

"Hey Jin, can I talk to you I need to tell you something and I could really use your advice." I tell him.

*Flush* "Sup bro, watcha need to tell me?" He asks.

After I force him to wash his hands, I inform him on my situation with Jacqui. I also, tell him that I don't know what to do about all of this.

"Well damn, I'm sorry bro, I don't really know what to say, just do you and its her loss anyway, right, dude." He says rubbing my shoulder in comfort.

"Yea, thanks Jin, I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes, which is surprising, considering you're kind of an ass." I chuckled.

"Ha Ha very funny loser, you're lucky I even help you sometimes."

"You're right, thank you, I'm lucky to have you."

"Damn right you are and don't you forget it." He smirks as he extends his arm.

I go in for the hug, it's a nice, warm hug that is surprisingly comfortable.

We back up, still in each other's grasp, we are almost at the same level, except for my half an inch on him. We just stand there until I feel something inside me, tell me to do it. I'm not sure what it wants me to do, but before I have time to figure it out I see Jin, lean in with his lips puckered. My heart skipped a beat, I wanted to turn away but I also wanted to stay.

Next thing I know his face is less than an inch away from me and I gasp a little. In that very moment I question everything that I know, or rather everything that I used to know. In a moment of despair, passion, and a little bit of pleasure mixed with disgust.

I find our lips meet and it was a rush of every emotion possible. I felt happiness, comfort, sadness, disgust, and love all in one big jumble of feelings. I didn't hate it, in fact, I kinda liked it. I'd love to say this wasn't my first kiss, but that'd be a lie.

We pulled apart, slowly coming to the realization of what just happened. We both were blushing so hard that we looked like two tomatoes. We both let go of each other abruptly, with the shock embedding our faces.

"Takeda, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it just happened out of no where." Jin tried to explain.

"Jin, don't apologize. It was me too and I didn't hate it."I said back.

"Really? I'm still sorry tho, it was unexpected and I should of just held it back."

He is close to tears, after what he said. He walks backwards and sits on the bench and just starts crying and crying. I walk to him and just sit next to him and hold him in my arms as he hugs me back and continues to pour.

"Jin, it's okay I swear no one will find out and this will stay between just us forever." I try to comfort.

"That's not what I'm worried about I know you well enough to know that you wouldn't tell."He barely managed to get out.

"Then what is it?"

"How can you be so blind., Takeda........ I love you, I've always loved you and I've just been dealing with my unrequited love by dating all those girls."

"Oh, Jin its okay, you don't have to cry over me or any of this. Look at me, I never knew how you felt, so I couldn't possibly know."

"That's the thing though, I already know that I love you, and you have no idea how hard it was to live with that fact that you would probably never notice my....."

Before he got to finish his sentence I moved in closer and grabbed his red and teared up face and brought my lips to his cheek. I didn't want it to end and I wanted to show him that he didn't have to cry and that I care for him too.

Once we separated, I just stare into his big vulnerable green eyes. I go in for a hug and I decide to tell him how I feel.

"Jin?" I ask still in his embrace.

"Takeda." He replies softly.

"If I am to be completely honest I have always admired you and to an extent thought of you as the closest person I could trust and love. Jin I guess that I've never noticed how you felt, but now I know that and I will take everything that you said, into consideration."

"I love you, Takeda, but I can't just pretend this didn't happen" He finally says.

I nod my head as I get up and get him up, while wiping tears from his face. I hug him which only tears him up more as it brings me to tear up a little bit myself.

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring* The bell rings as we begin to get up and go to class. We went throughout our day without mentioning what had previously happened.

As soon as the day was over I went home as fast as humanly possible. I just went and laid on my bed and tried to process everything that happened today. I decided to take a nap to calm my nerves and my brain.

When I awoke it was around 4:30, so I got up and walked to the bathroom. I quickly did my business and washed my hands. I continued to the kitchen where I was surprised to not see my father there cooking dinner.

I then looked around and see a note on the table. "Takeda I went to meet up with Johnny and Sonya to check on something, food is in the fridge ."

I walked to the fridge and saw some sushi from the restaurant down the street. I'm can't say I ever really liked sushi, so I just make some cereal and lay down in my room and turn on the TV.

I drift asleep as I try to clear my mind of today's "eventful" day.

My dreams do nothing but fill my mind with the thought of him. I sit there rolling over in my sleep unstintingly.

I wake up sweating with a thousand thoughts clouding my brain. I get up letting the bowl fall to the floor as I turn the TV off.

I decide to take a shower to erase my roaming imagination. I pull off my clothes restlessly and check myself out in the mirror. I am rather fitter than I thought. I jump in the shower and rinse away all that's happened today.

It comes to mind how much my hair bothers me sometimes. So I just push it back and let it look atrocious. I slip out (almost literally) of the shower and dry myself off. I wrap the towel around my waist and walk to my room and feel too lazy to change right away.

I look at my phone and notice its barely around 9 and walk to the living room to see if dad is here. As I expected, he isn't home yet. I decide to call Cassie and see whats up.

"Ring" "Ring" "Ring"

"Wassup, loser". She answers.

"Ouch, says the one with eyebrows worse than my grades."

"I will shoot you, you know."

"Fine, Fine, don't be salty."

"Shut up," she laughs.

"Whatever, but watcha doing" I say

"Music and your lame ass, what about you?"

"First, Fuck you and nothing much just alot on my mind."

"Like what?"

In this moment I don't know whether to tell her what happened, especially after I told Jin I wouldn't tell anyone.

"Ehh just stuff, nothing much."

"Dude, whatever you're full of it".

"Fight me," I say defensively.

"Whatever, go to sleep Takeda."

"Fine, you hoe," I say jokingly.

"Whatever, You need sleep."

"Okay Okay goodnight loser," I say.

"Goodnight weirdo," She farewells.

I get up and stretch, realizing it's around 10 now. I get up and walk to my room and just lay there. I then realize I am basically naked.   
I decide to just go to sleep for the night and sleep in since there's no school tomorrow.

My mind is filled with chaos, nothing unusual for today though.

I get up the next morning at around 10, later than usual. I stroll to the kitchen after a couple attempts at getting up. The kitchen is just as empty as the night before.

I let the thought of my father being gone this long, linger through the rest of my thoughts. I mean, it's happened before, but it is still worrisome sometimes.

I walk to my the bathroom and get dressed casually since, I have plans to meet up with Cassie and Jin................ Oh no, I forgot Jin was going to be there with us.

My main thought was to let it pass, before we talk again. This method is overall stupid, but it's the only one I have. I don't want to cancel on her, but I also don't want to face Jin in person quite yet.

To meet my friends, I go. I'd be stupid as to make it so easy to notice my avoidance towards him. So, I go and meet them at the Earthrealm Market.

When I arrive I look around to find Sergeant Bossy and Bro Kiss. I notice Cassie strolling around and she catches my eye just as I catch hers. She is with Jacqui for some godforsaken reason.

"Hey, Taki, where's Jin," she asks.

"Hey Cass, I thought he was with you," I respond.

"Nope, he is no where to be seen".

"Oh okay then, umm can I talk to you real quick."

We shift a little from Jacqui as a begin to ask, "What the hell is she doing here"?

"Oh chill the fuck out, before I have to beat a bitch, Takeda, she is actually really chill and cool," She rebuttals.

"Fine, but still, you know I used to like her, why would you bring her here with you?"

"Because I can, calm down beanstalk."

"Cassie, seriously why is she here?"

"If you haven't noticed she is Uncle Jax's daughter and I'm Johnny and Sonya's daughter, so it's not exactly easy to miss her."

"Fine, but still how'd you randomly start hanging out with her"?

"I don't know we just talked a little while and we have a lot more in common than I thought."

*Ugh* "Cassieeeeeeee."

"Shut up Takeda, she's fine and I thought you were over her."

"Well I was, until now."

"Leave if you want, but me and Jacqui are going sparring after this if you want to come with us."

"Fine, I'll come with you guys, nothing better to do anyway," I say concludingly.

"Shut it, I'll still beat your ass," She says poking me in my butt.

After we stroll around, we head to the sparring gym. I walk to the locker room and quickly get changed. I meet Cassie and Jacqui in the sparring gym once we're all dressed.

"Okay, let's go spar guys," Cassie invites.

We all take turns jabbing at each other and Cassie ends up with the most wins, like always. I hate to admit it, but i feel like my feelings for Jacqui are rekindling. I know, threw what happened between Jin and I and Jacqui and I, I don't understand how I can still feel this way towards her.

Once our sparring practice is over, I go back to the locker room. I sloppily strip from my sweaty gym clothes and toss them away. I go to my bag and notice my journal is in it. I write all the crazy crap that happens to me in it, it's kind of my way to relieve myself with out needing a counselor. God knows I might need one.

Anyways, I notice I'm sitting down on the changing room bench, in my underwear. I put my clothes on and rush out to get to Cassie and Jacqui. I catch up to them as they plan on going back to Cassie's house, but I decide to go home. 

I arrive and finally see my father, talking with Cassie's parents....


	3. Chapter 3

I walk into the kitchen and immediately wonder what is going on.

"Dad, what's all this about?"

"It's nothing son, but you and the others have a new mission to go on."

I am ecstatic, I love going on missions, but there's a major problem with this. I haven't talked to or even seen Jin in at least a week after the incident.

"Yay.", I say half-heartedly.

We all go to Sonya's house to retrieve Cassie. As soon as we arrive Cassie gets in but for some reason Jacqui comes along with us.

"Cassie?" I whisper.

"Huh?"

"What is she doing here, we're going on a mission yanno and she isn't part of the team."

"Yea, about that, she is now."

"What?!?!" I almost yell.

"Shut up stupid, I talked to my parents and they tested her yesterday and she passed with flying colors, so she's here now, deal with it."

"Cass-"

"Deal with it." She cuts me off.

As I mentally and emotionally prepare myself for seeing Jin again, we find out that he'll be meeting us there. Which gives me more time to prepare.

I realize it seems like I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but in my mind it makes sense.

We arrive at the base and immediately head to the strategy sector or the base camp. I see Jin on our way in and he seems to be in a good mood, however it's clear to see this is troubling him too.

"Everybody, I call this mission into order." Sonya begins.

"What Sergeant Bossy said, we called you all here to talk about the new mission we are sending you on." Johnny clarifies.

"Yes, thank you Johnny." she said with a glint of sarcasm,

"Anyways, you guys will be heading to the outskirts of Outworld, where Kotal Kahn is attempting to claim it for his own."

"So all of you have to do is travel to Outworld and get him to sign this peace treaty" Johnny adds.

I try to pay attention to the mission, but I can't get over how casually I have to be near Jin. The only guy, no scratch that, the only person I've ever kissed.

It just keeps playing on loop in my head, which isn't even the worst part, the worst part is that I may have enjoyed it.

I think he sees me unintentionally glancing at him, because he locks eyes with me from across the table. I delegate myself to break eye contact and shift my vision towards Johany and Sonya.

"There should be little problem with the mission and it should go well, unless in the worst case scenario..... " Johnny begins, but is ultimately cut off by Sonya.

"....but that will never happen Johnny, so shut up."

"Ok, Sergeant bossy." Johnny rolls his eyes.

We all speculate on what they we're talking about, but we just go to suit up for the mission and grab what we need. We board the vehicle and head toward Outworld.

Cassie volunteers to drive, more like forces me out of the way to do so. I sit in the seat next to her as Jin and Jacqui conversate and introduce themselves to one another.

A day or so goes by before Cassie is ready to trade spots. However, she goes in the back and trades with no other than, yep, Jin. As we take a break outside for a moment Cassie explains to me why.

"What is wrong with you, Why do you want me to sit next to him?"I exclaim.

"Because, I thought I was doing you a favor, by not making you sit next to Jacqui."

I realize in that moment that I had not told her what happened back in the boys locker room.

"Oh right, okay, thanks." I say stuttering.

"What are you hiding, why don't you wanna sit next to him? " She asks promptly.

"I was kidding, haha" I say unconvincingly.

"I've got my eye on you Takeda, you're lucky I'm too tired for this right now." She says aggressively.

We all get in the truck and get on our way to Outworld. Nobody speaks a word, half due to the girls sleeping in the back and all the tension up front.

It's almost midnight and me and Jin are the only ones awake.

"I'm sorry....." Jin whispers looking away from me.

"For what...?" I ask just as quiet.

"Everything......., I'm sorry for putting you in this position, I should've just kept my feelings to myself and it would've been fine between us still."

Without thinking I grab his face and kiss him. It was all I could think of to do to keep him quiet.

"Takeda..." He says after I move my face.

"Shut up, I already know." I say as nicely as possible, so not very.

"No, it's just that, I don't really know what happened and it's very weird between us and I just don't want it to be".

"I know", is all I could manage to say.

It was completely silent the rest of the way to Outworld. It only took a few more hours to get there.

"We're here dumbnuts". Cassie points out abruptly.

I wake up from my nap as she says so, as do Jin and Jacqui. We all look around and see the dirt filled and dingy conditions of Outworld.

"Okay, everybody remember our mission, we have to go and find Kahn." Cassie orders.

Ultimately we decide not to separate and agree to stay together. It takes us a couple hours to find anybody from where we entered at. As soon as we found a little older lady we had to ask her if she had any idea where he is.

"Ma'am, do you know where Kotal Kahn might be at?" Cassie asks politely.

"Huh, what did you say?" The lady asks.

"Looks like someone is a little under cooked." Jin chuckles.

I laugh a little bit too, which Jin gleefully notices. However, Cassie and Jacqui are less than impressed, which just adds to the hilarity.

The lady looks fed up with us and begins to trail off. We quickly go to catch up with her, but just as we turn around the corner she disappears without a trace.

"Really, not even a poof of smoke." Jin comments sarcastically.

I try not to laugh at the remark to appease Cassie, but an obvious chuckle escapes, much to her dismay and his pleasure.

We all move further towards the city and start to notice many more people. Most of the people we talk to point us into the direction of what seems to be the town square.

There are hundreds of people in a giant group surrounding the whipping posts. A man seems to be hanging from it, from what we can manage to see.

"Maybe Kotal is up there." Jacqui says.

We all agree and push threw the crowd to get a closer look. Just as Jacqui thought, Kahn is near the whip stand.

"Kahn, we need a word with you." Cassie yells assertively.

"Step away humans, do not confront our master." A young woman orders us.

There is a hood covering most of her face and body. Her voice is scratchy, almost bug like. It sounds familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.

"Please, We mean no harm, we just wish to speak to Kotal Kahn." I begin.

"Be gone or you'll never speak again." A tough western sounding man says.

His voice I don't completely recognize.

"We just have a message from Earthrealm." Jin intervenes.

"You leave us no choice earthlings." They growl.

The man points his twin pistols at Cassie and I, while the woman seems to be standing aggressively near him.

Next thing we know, Jin darts towards the man hanging from the whipping post. He moved so quick and abruptly that nobody was aware enough to catch him.

"Get HIM!!!" Kahn yells.

We all chase after Jin as fast as humanely/somewhat humanely possible. I go after the western looking man as Cassie goes after Jin and Jacqui go after the woman.

I manage to tackle the man before he attempts to shoot at me. I whip away his pistol with my bladed whip. We punch back and forth until manage get him down and run to help Cassie.

While, I was struggling with the man Cassie and Jacqui seemed to have handled the situation with the woman.

"You would not believe who that ugly bitch is." Cassie pants.

"Who?" Me and Jacqui say in unison.

"That ugly bug whore, D'Vorah." She laughs.

We all laugh lightly suddenly coming to the realization that Jin is being held by his neck by Kotal Kahn.

"Stop!!!" We all say running towards them.

He drops Jin and faces towards us. Cassie goes to reason with Kahn as Jacqui and I pick up Jin.

"Kahn, we mean no harm" Cassie says.

"Then what do you want?" He asks impatiently

"We came to ask for your help to get the amulet back from Mileena."

"Why should I help you, you're the ones that protected it and got it stolen."

"Mileena has the amulet, the amulet is dangerous and in the wrong hands, catastrophic, so we beg you, help us or it guarantees the end of both of our realms." She finishes.

"Fine, tell your commanders that I agree, but you shall not step foot in Out world again." He says after a few moments of thinking

"Agreed." They say ending in a handshake of agreement.

As we're on our way back to the base, we are caught off guard by Kahn's assassins.

If not so sudden we would've stood a chance, but we were caught completely off guard.

What seems like hours later, I wake up and realize we've been captured and put into some sort of undergound cell.

"Cassie?", "Guys?". I muttered.

"Takeda, are you okay?," Cassie asked.

"Yea I'm okay, but where are we?" I ask getting up.

"I don't know, it looks like we're still in Outworld though......" She responds.

"Shut up Earthrealmers, Kahn will deal with you." ,The Outworld guards order.

They order us away from the bars and toss us some, stale bread. All of my friends obeyed and caught the bread.

When they went to my cell, well I had a different idea.

As the skull mask wearing guard approached my cell, I took the opportunity to overload his senses. He immediately collapsed to the ground.

I quickly grab his keys and unlock my cell door. I get out, almost tripping over the guard's corpse, and unlock everybody's doors.

"What the hell was that?", Jacqui asked in astonishment.

"I overloaded his senses, it only works at a short range."

"I guess being the son of a telepath has its perks." Jin said.

"Yeah, I didn't used to think so." I sighed.

I begin to think back to a few years ago.

I was in the middle of fighting Hanzo Hasashi.

The odds we're against me, but I swiftly took him down after a lot of back and forth. Impressed, he congratulated me on surpassing the Shirai Ryu ranks.

"Takeda, I knew you would soon surpass me, but I also have a surprise....," he's cut off.

"Takeda, great job." A familiar voice says.

It takes me a mere second to detect who the voice belongs to.

"What is he doing here?" I yell out at Hanzo.

"Surprise." He mutters.

I'm Furious at his blatant disregard for my feelings and how he Just brought him here.

"Ten years, ten years you've been gone and you decide now is the time to come play the role of proud father." I yell at him.

"Takeda..."

"No you don't know how it felt to have your father leave for ten years with no word from him right after your mom died."

"Let me explain, son."

"No I have no father." I yell as I begin to attack him.

I finally back away from him as he gets up.

"Your father is not your enemy Takeda," Hanzo begins.

"He had a very good reason for leaving you."

"And what is that," I snarled.

"Your mother was killed, Takeda, by the same people that made your father leave you."

"My mother died an accident...."

"That's what I told him to tell you," Kenshi began.

"Your mother was killed by Black Dragon assassins who we're coming for me and I couldn't stay and let them kill anyone else because of me."

I stare blankly away from him, taking in what I've been thrown.

I decided to forgive him.

Slowly coming back to reality, we all see the cowboy I knocked out earlier, Reptile, and Ermac.

We make a plan to ambush and take them down.

"Okay team, I'll take Ermac, Jacqui, you get Reptile." Cassie directs.

"I got cowboy, and Jin is gonna be our air support." I respond.

As planned, they are unaware of our presence and are in fact taken off guard. Jin takes the first warning shot with his arrow at them.

We all run towards them, with everyone handling their target.

I tussle with the cowboy until I get him down, barely dodging his advances.

I look over and see that Jacqui was knocked down by Reptile.

He leaps at me and punches me as I attempt to throw him off.

He instantaneously disappeared.   
I use my telepathy to try and track him. I sense him right behind me, I grab his fist flying towards my face and slam against the ground and quickly go assist Cassie.

Cassie was mostly overtaking Ermac as I jump in and help.

Exhausted, we regroup and receive an incoming call.

"Cassie, how's ur mission going." Sonya asked.

"Kahn agreed, but then we we're ambushed by his assassins and put into cells, but we go out and took out some off his affiliates."  
Cassie responds.

"Called it!!!", We hear from the background.

"Shut up, Johnny."

"Guys, we need you to regroup back at the base for further info." We hear from somebody else.

"Dad?" Cassie questions.

"Hi, sweetie,". Jax responds.

"What are you doing at the base dad?"

"Me and Sonya have to tie up some loose ends with Quan Chi."

"Be careful dad, you shouldn't be doing this right now."

"I have to, Sonya is family."

"I know, just stay safe, I love you." She finishes.

"You stay safe, too, Briggs out." He ends.

They hang up and we all look around at the minor damage from the brawl.

"We should go before Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dumbasses wake up." Jin finally says.

I laugh out loud, which in response makes Cassie and Jacqui let out a chuckle.

Satisfied Cassie leads us back to an available portal to Earthrealm as we all follow.

I get up and begin to walk and see Jin trailing me.

"Come on," I say putting my arm around him and smiling.

He accepts my advances and we catch up.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FINAL FIGHT SCENE (More to come tho)

It's another year of high school.

After everything that happened with Shinnok and the Jinsei, things were never the same.

\-----------------------------------------------*Flashback*-----------------------------------------------------------------

We head to the base to take the plane and go to the Lin Kuei temple.

"The orders say we need to go back to Earthrealm and meet with Sub-Zero and ask for his allegiance against Shinnok and Kotal Kahn's army," Jacqui explains.

"Is it true?" Cassie trails.

"Is what true?"

"There were "complications" with your dad's and our parents' encounter with Quan Chi."

"Many troops were lost, but as far as I've heard everyone else is okay."

"Great". Cassie says reassured.

"It's crazy". Takeda begins.

"What". Jacqui questions.

"It's just us, no one's coming to help. We either pull this off or ......"

"We will get it done". Cassie interrupts.

"By the, What is that". Jin says standing up.

"I don't know, but it's heading right towards us". I say staring at the ominous red mist outside the windows.

Realizing the sudden urgency of the situation, we all sit back down and buckle up to emergency land. Jacqui tries to land the plane as safely as possible, well as safely as possible when there are giant red clouds everywhere.

We all get off the plane and realize we had landed in a forest not too far away from the temple.

"Looks like we're almost there," Jacqui says, pointing in the distance.

"I just love walking in a moonlit forest at night, well not now," I say facetiously.

"I never thought you one for being outdoorsy," Jin says strolling next to me.

"I lived near a forest with my mother when I was younger, so you could say I'm accustomed".

Jin smiles at me, warming up to the circumstances at hand.

"Once we're done here we should go," He says still smiling.

I nod in agreement, unconsciously meeting Jin's glare as we share a brief moment gazing at each other. After what feels like a century, we look over to see the girls attempting to repair the damaged motor. Cassie nearly throws her tools in frustration at the motor.

"Fuck, fuck,fuck, the shock-wave fried the leads," Cassie yells.

"So, we're grounded?" Jin asks dumbly.

"No fucking shit,"

Jacqui and I chuckle, much to Jin's dismay. I still manage to put my arm around him to make him feel a little bit better.

"We better go then, we're almost outta time," Jacqui yells.

A portal forms a few feet from where we were as we quickly run up next to Jacqui and Cassie.

Kotal Kahn comes out of the portal, followed by the cowboy, who I learned is named Erron Black, Ermac, and Ferra/Torr, as well as Reptile with many of their soldiers.

"What are they doing here," Jacqui points.

"Looking for the amulet, probably," Jin replies.

"Let's try to call a truce and tell them about Shinnok," Cassie says.

Kotal sees us and yells at his followers to bring us to him and points his Macuahuitl at us. His soldiers battle cry and charge at us.

"Or not," I say slightly nervous.

"Head to the woods, move, move, move," Cassie orders.

We run into the woods and try to lose them. We all split up in different directions and in a few minutes I realize I may have dodged them. I keep running, though I'm hoping I find someone, anyone, hopefully not Kotal Kahn though.

"Takeda, Cassie, Jacqui," I here Jin yell at the top of his lungs.

"JIN!!!" I yell back.

I run to where I hear him, continuously bumping into everything and looking for him. Then, BAM!!! There he is, right in front of me, exactly three feet from where he smacked into me.

"Jin," I exclaim feeling somewhat relieved.

He instantly jumps into my arms, straddling me and I can't help but hold him in as well. As much as I would have liked to stay in that moment forever, we had to move and find the others. We quickly detach and run to find them as we suddenly hear somebody rummaging through the trees.

"Guys?" I ask loudly.

A pair of hands grabs me and Jin through the trees. Jin and I fall to the ground after being grabbed.

"Shut the fuck up, you're gonna get us caught by yelling," Cassie angrily whispers at us.

"Sorry," Jin and I begin, getting cut off by the sound of more moving through the area.

We get up and notice that Ermac and Reptile are coming and looking, no, hunting us.

We all look at one another and know what we must do. Cassie throws several grenades primarily aiming at the reptile as Jacqui and Jin begin shooting towards the tree bases. As a result, many trees begin to crush some of Kotal's soldiers. Any other surrounding trees catch on fire and give Kotal's army, even more, to worry about.

"Divine fire and earth," Kotal yells, pointing at Jin in the distance.

Next thing I know I see Reptile leaping towards Jacqui.

"Jacqui!!!" I scream just too late.

Consequently, Reptile leaps from the tree and pins Jacqui her to the ground. Without thinking, I charge at him, almost as if expecting it, he spits a glob of acid in my eyes. After that, I couldn't see very much.

Next thing I know Jacqui tells me to tilt my head back and to stop trying to wipe my face. She dumps water on my face, as I slowly regain my vision.

"Can you see," Jacqui asks.

"It's still kinda fuzzy," I reply.

She decides to dump it all on my face, nearly drowning me.

"Better?"

I look around trying to regain all my vision, I open my eyes and see Jin kneeling right beside me with his hand on my lap with a disconcerted face.

"Awe, were you worried about me?" I say mockingly.

"So how's your vision?" Jacqui interrupts.

"Beautiful," I say pointing my head towards her.

We all snap out of it, the moment being interrupted by Ermac, levitating a considerable distance above the ground, simultaneously uprooting the tree I'm resting on.

"Hold that thought," Jacqui says realizing the circumstances.

We all flee just as Ermac brings the tree to where we were just occupying. He flies after us, shooting soul energy at all of us. It seems like we outran him, just as we come face to face with Kotal Kahn and his army, with Ermac just hovering above intimidatingly.

"Lady's choice," I say lightly.

"I got Ermac," She replies.

I rush at Kotal Kahn as Jacqui rushes at Ermac.

She is successful in somehow beating up and immobilizing him. As I struggle to defeat Kotal Kahn, I get in a few blows until he kicks me in the stomach. I roll back to my feet holding back for him to speak.

"We know D'Vorah is here. Where is the amulet." Kotal yells.

"Kotal, the situation has changed...," I get interrupted.

"Don't try and lie to me," He charges.

I block his incoming punches, but end up taking a kick to the chest. On the ground, I roll to my feet and fire off one of my whips, yet only grasping his wrists. He takes a firm grip on the whip and pulls, spinning me around him. I manage to stay on my feet, however retracting my whips. As a result, Jacqui runs up to both of us.

"Tell him," Jacqui demands.

"Not yet," I respond loudly.

"He needs to know,"

"Busy,"

"I will kill you both," Kahn yells.

"Shinnok's been freed. He's at Raiden's Sky Temple and is already infecting Earthrealm's life force." Jacqui reinforces.

We all look up to the sky and see the red clouds forming and spreading above us and realizing all that she was saying and the truth of her words.

"Earthrealm is lost then," Kotal relinquishes.

"Not if we try and stick together," Jacqui persuades.

Kotal draws his Macuahitl and readies for kombat.

"You must die, I must appease Shinnok and bring him your heads to get time to bolster OutWorld's defenses," Kahn reveals.

He comes in swinging at me, I quickly block it as he backhands it to Jacqui. She blocks it with her gauntlets just in time. Kotal holsters his weapon as I try to punch him, but is blocked. He punches me in the kidney and in my ankle, as I crash to the ground. I try to rise up, just as Ferra/Torr rush towards me. Swiping away the behemoth's attempted grab, yet he swipes away my attempt at kicking him.

I try and beat the monstrosity as Jacqui simultaneously tries fighting and reasoning with the Kahn. I ultimately fail and get beaten down by the monster. He carries me over his shoulder, just to throw me towards Jin, as they laugh at my hard falling.

Jin quickly helps me to my feet. We all back into one another, realizing we are surrounded from all sides.

"Don't know about you guys, but I'm definitely living the dream," Jin chuckles.

"You must have odd dreams," I snicker back.

"Chattel, you die tonight," Kahn abruptly yells.

In Outworld tongue he orders them towards us as they begin to close in on us. Ferra/Torr, therefore, begin to charge at us, only to be frozen by a sudden ice blast. More blasts hit many of the soldiers that rush too close towards us.

Subzero jumps in with his Lin Kuei disciples and engage in a fight with Kotal's army. We all break free and try to quickly escape as Subzero begins to walk towards us.

"You have stood together as a team in the face of almost imminent defeat, lesser warriors could not have done as well," Subzero congratulates.

"Thank you, Grandmaster," Cassie replies.

"I'll stay here and push Kotal back to Outworld, proceed to the Sky Temple, Earthrealm's fate lies in your hands," Subzero closes as he walks back to battle.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We make it to the Sky temple and creep behind a wall overlooking a crevice just in time to hear D'Vorah, Kitana, Liu Kang, and Sindel talk.

"Lord Shinnok is almost done, soon the Jinsei's corruption will be complete and irreversible," D'Vorah says.

"After the invasion can begin and Raiden and his allies will never beat us," Kitana replies maniacally.

Kung Jin missteps and some stones fall into the crevice below him. I try and save Jin from falling with help from Cassie.

"Once we conquer the realms we will be victorious, advise Shinnok everything is in place and we will unleash them on Earthrealm on his command," Liu Kang orders.

D'Vorah complies and walks into the temple as Kung Lao and Smoke approach the other revenants.

"Have you found the portal to the Heavens," Asks Liu Kang.

"Yes, but Raiden's wards protect it, so we can't get through," Kung Lao reports.

We all take the liberty to peer slightly over the wall at the revenants.

"Unacceptable! After Earthrealm is destroyed we must invade the heavens and kill the Elder Gods," Kitana quarrels.

"Come," Liu Kang gestures towards Kung Lao and Smoke.

"War on the Heavens? If Shinnok can take down the Elder Gods," I begin.

"Kung Lao, to see him like this," Jin says distraught.

I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him, he accepts the gesture with a small smile.

"We'll all be hanging around the Netherrealm water cooler if we don't pull this off. C'mon," She gestures.

As we walk a rock comes loose and I fall, without anyone aware I try and catch on to the crevice edge barely in time.

"Takeda," Jin screams.

He puts his hand out and desperately tries to grab my hand and pull me up. Kitana and Sindel quickly hear Jin's cry in horror and spot us. Cassie and Jacqui quickly jump out of cover and run forward to engage in combat.

They fight off the revenants as Jin tries to grab my arm. In a minute of panic and luck, I fall only to be caught be Jin's outstretched arm, after a few moments of struggle he successfully pulls me up from the crevice. I get up and quickly hug him for saving me.

"Awe, were you worried about me,?" He says mockingly.

"I owe you one tho," I say wholeheartedly.

"I'll remember that," He replies patting me on the back.

We move quickly and see Cassie and Jacqui attempt to fend off Kitana. We all surround her and try and attack her. She, however, blocks almost all our attacks and levitates Cassie and me with her fan-nado attack. She quickly chucks one of her fans into my abdomen and the remaining one into Jacqui's shoulder. With both of us down Kitana recalls both of her fans and twirls them around, turning to face Cassie.

"No," Cassie yells looking at our injured bodies.

"Wish to die first, so be it," Kitana angrily confronts.

I use all my might to knock out the princess and end up emerging victorious.

"You're not killing anyone," I finish.

As Jin pushes himself up to a seated position, Cassie runs to Jacqui and orders him to help me.

Doing what he was told for once, he comes over to me and notices the bloodied areas from where Kitana struck me.

"Messed you up pretty bad," Jin laughed hiding his worry.

"Great bedside manner dummy, I can fight," I say back.

I put my arm around him so he could support me as Cassie and Jacqui are doing the same not far away. We all turn hearing somebody call out in Chinese. Liu Kang, Smoke, and Kung Lao come racing towards us.

"You two go, Jin and I will handle this," I manage to say.

"He'll help me, just go I'll slow you down," I say anticipating their words.

"Forget it," Jacqui argues.

"Dammit, keep your heads down, I'll see you on the other side," Cassie complies taking out her pistols.

Cassie nods to Jacqui and they head off into the temple. As they leave, we are confronted by Liu Kang, Smoke, Kung Lao, Kitana, and Sindel.

I attempt to fend off incoming attacks from Kitana and Sindel, barely managing to punch Sindel backward. Jacqui is getting pummeled by Smoke as she manages an uppercut on Liu Kang. We, however, manage to be enough for the revenants to not obliterate us.

It seems like forever until the battle suddenly ceases. The giant corrupted cloud coming from the Jinsei Chamber dissipates, and the clouds all around us lose the reddish hue.

"We must go," Liu Kang tells the other revenants quickly. 

Finally, the sunshine breaks through the clouds and I manage to relinquish a slight smile. I notice too late that the revenants leave through a portal to the NetherRealm. It doesn't bother me much and does little to my happy mood. I put my hand around Jin and sit near a nearby statue, completely exhausted.

"That moonlight walk will have to wait," I say resting my head on his shoulder.

"No walk. Poolside. Umbrella drinks," He puts his hand on mine.

"Deal," I say reluctantly. 

We just sit there as we look at each other and smile, we didn't die after all.

As I'm dozing in and out of sleep I see Cassie with reinforcements and her parents. Johnny and Sonya glance at us, telling us we are leaving and updating us on Cassie's recent accomplishment on destroying Shinnok and saving the day. We slowly, but surely get up still appearing to be obviously holding hands.

"You owe me 20 dollars," Sonya whispered to Johnny glancing at our hands still grossly intertwined.


	5. Senior Year

Those were a very hard couple of months for all of us, but many good things came out of it as well............

Jin and I have rekindled our friendship and everything's great, but after our moments after the Revenant battle, things have been off for the most part. I've made my best effort to make it evident that I may or may not have fallen for Jin and I don't know why but he gives me nothing, he seems very passive even after how close we have become and even our kiss for god's sake. Even after he professed his love for me, I'm a bit skeptical.

It's our Senior Year at Edenia High and I wanna die. However, as often as I say that I really don't wanna go out with a fatality.

The high school was different after many students were moved to different schools and in different realms. Like how, Kitana and Liu Kang are now going to Netherrealm High School and Mileena and Rain moved back to their old school Outworld High.

I'm just glad Jin, Cassie and Jacqui have stayed at Edenia, now part Earthrealm mandated, High. I enjoy the simple idea of us all being together and friends together for ever, or at least for a long time. It keeps that idea of balance everyone likes. 

As seniors, we basically run the school and do whatever we want. Well, not exactly.

"Hey Taki, watcha doin,"Jacqui says disturbing my gazed daydream. 

"Just finishing up a project," I say while, clearly not even started on my project.

"Fun, I guess." She said questionably.

"Ehh, anyways watcha doin," I say snapping back to reality. 

"Not much, I already finished the project, as per usual," She said gloating at my barely started project. 

"Haha, very funny," She says as I pretend pout. 

"You know I am," 

"Shut up," I say playfully. 

After the mission and the -Almost- end of the world Jackie and I have become a lot closer. I'm glad it's not as awkward after the whole fiasco, sophomore year. I wonder if that's what had deterred Jin from opening up to me again all this time, probably not.

"Hey, I have to go, but I'll see you later at my house to hang out with the everybody else," She said gleefully. 

"Of course, I'll see ya bye," I said waving goodbye. 

The bell subsequently rings and I head to my fourth period, AP Literature. It's okay, but I'd much rather fall asleep in the library than go. However, after being gone for a while during the mission I can't really do that. 

So I head to class and the day zooms by slowly, anticipation racing, fatigue growing and just overall boredom from school sets in. 

After a few tortuous hours of school, I finally escape this educational hell. I decide to drop by my house directly after school to drop my things off and take a quick shower beforehand. 

Even a few months after the war I can still find dirt and dried blood in each and every crevice and orifice. It's gross but I just have to deal with it. 

Nearly falling out of the shower, I go get dressed quickly. 

"What should I wear?" 

I wear my basic black and yellow shirt and black jeans. Zooming out of the house just in time to catch my father walking in. 

"Oh hey dad, just leaving," 

"Where are you heading off to?" 

"To hang with the guys, don't wait up I'll be back later." 

"Okay be safe don't do anything you'll regret too much," He winks. 

"Dad, oh my god stop," I say waving away his implications.

15 minutes of bike riding and regret later and I walk in and say hi to everybody. I navigate through the front door with an obvious mission, to find and talk to Jin. 

"Hey loser about time you showed up, we've been waiting like 5 whole minutes," Cassie says enthusiastically, I think. 

"Hey Takeda glad you finally made it, I was thinking you had other plans for a minute," Jacqui and Cassie immediately burst into laughter. 

"Shut up, I could've had other plans if I wanted," I announce defensively.

"Oh like what,"  

"There was a very captivating documentary about mathematics on the history channel on," 

They instantaneously burst into a fit of laughter and jokes at my expense. I couldn't help, but release a couple of giggles at hearing what I had just said.

"Shut up guys, where's Jin at though,"

"He just went to the bathroom, feel free to search for him," Cassie manages to say through laughs. 

"Thanks alot," I say sarcastically. 

Up the winding staircase I go, searching for where my dear lover boy could be. You'd think with such a rural house there wouldn't be this much room.   
Walking down the hallway I see a shadow, presumably Jin's, I chase after it in hopes of finding him. 

I turn down the hall after it, only to be face to face with the clear silence I knew too well. There's no shadow and more importantly, no Jin. 

I keep walking in hope of at least finding the restroom he should be in. Only walking a bit more I find it and promptly knock. 

*knock* *knock* *knock* 

"I'm kinda busy, but by all means if you feel it necessary come and enjoy the show," I hear inside. 

"Sorry it's Takeda, I just heard you were in here so I had to come and check," I respond awkwardly. 

"Well you came all this way just to make sure I didn't bail on hanging out, you might as well open the door and make sure I'm not an imposter," 

"Shit, Jin I'm sorry you just haven't been talking to me much lately, that's all," 

"Just come in," He says opening the door with his pants entirely around his ankles. 

I catch an eyeful before I turn away in both bewilderment and shock. 

"Well," He says shuffling back to the porcelain throne. 

I move a little to be right by the door frame for a hasty retreat if necessary. Despite how close Jin and I are, this is the first time I have ever seen him butt naked. I'm not sure whether to be afraid or intrigued. Maybe both? 

"What do you want Takeda," He says almost nonchalantly. 

"Ummm, I...," I barely realize I'm frozen in shock. 

"Earth to weirdo, are you okay,"

"Uhh yea, I'm fine, I was really just looking for you and was wondering why you've been avoiding me," I manage out.

"Takeda, I," 

"No excuses, tell me the truth," I interrupt.

"Fine, but can we at least move to somewhere that doesn't smell like a zoo," 

"Fine, let's walk and talk then"

"Alright," Jin finally pulls up his pants and flushes.

"Please wash your hands though, we're not in that much of a hurry," 

"Of course, your highness," He smirks, walking to the sink.

We walk and search for a decent empty room to conversate.

"Talk now," i order.

"Fine, okay," He glances harshly. "So around a little after our last mission, I was talking about you to my father, because I was planning on asking you out that day," He blushes.

"Oh," I gasp.

"Yeah, so when I was doing that my father told me he wanted to meet you first," 

"What's wrong with that Jin,"

"He kinda, maybe, sorta thinks that you are a........... girl"

"WHAT,"

"Keep it down, I'm sorry."

"Why does he think I'm a girl, have you even came out yet," I halfheartedly whisper.

"I'm sorry, I know I told you I would, but I remember one time in the village another boy told his parents he was gay and he was immediately disowned and kicked out,"  

"Oh Jin, I am so sorry, but I thought you're parents were cool and alright with that kind of stuff," 

"I mean they wouldn't throw me out exactly, but they would never look at me the same," 

"Jin," I wrap my arms around him intensely.

He turns around leaping at me in tears. I try to console him the best I can, which only leads to me joining in crying with him. 

I pull back just for a second looking in his eyes for just a hint of something I can grasp and hold onto forever. If only for a moment, he slams his face into mine and in a mixture of dread and love we lay there in each other's arms hoping for a moment where we are aloud to be together. 

It feels as only a second has passed from when we left the bathroom to when we woke up.

"Get up weirdos,"  Cassie yells.

"Oh my gosh, sorry Cassie," I stand up.

"Huh," Jin squints pulling away from me. 

"Get up, I can't believe you guys fell asleep before we even did anything fun," 

"Geeze, sorry I was just looking for Jin," I begin. 

"Well I can see you've succeeded in your mission, but that's no excuse for why you too ended up in my guest room asleep," 

"Cassie, it's not what it looks like, I swear," We both interrupt.

"I know, I know, you two are way too much of wimps to even think of having sex, let alone in Cassie's house,"  Jacqui quips.

"Shut up let's just go and do something, this is a sleepover after all," Jin offers.

"Well seems like you two got the "sleep" part covered," Cassie laughs.

"Alright, you guys go clean yourselves up, we'll be here fixing the bed you messed up,"

We immediately get up and walk towards the restroom, in minor embarrassment and guilt.

I try and pat down the tufts of hair sticking up from the sides of my head, while Jin adjusts his ponytail and headband.

"Does it ever bother you," Jin asks.

"Does what bother me," i query.

"The fact that anytime we kiss or ever get to be affectionate, it's always when one or both of us are in tears or we are both almost dead," 

"Huh, I never thought about it that way, i don't like that,"

"Takeda, what if that never changes though," He exhales.

"What do you mean," 

"I want our whatever you want to call it, to be more than just tears and occasional kisses, I want....," 

Before he can finish I grab him by his shoulders and kiss him,with no tears this time, just love. I tried so hard to block everything else out, to only keep the image of those beautiful lips in my head.

"How about we change that," 

"You know something, Takeda,"

"What," I ask while blushing.

"I really love you sometimes," 

"I'm not sure whether to be happy that you said I love you or be insulted you said sometimes,"

"Just shut up and kiss me again," He smirks.

"Just for the record I love you sometimes too," I laugh back.

"Wait Jin, what are we gonna do about your parents,"

"Don't worry about that now, we'll burn that bridge when we get there," Jin finished.

We lock lips for a little while until we snap back to reality. Quickly, we run back to Cassie's guest room, where they are waiting for us.

"About time, you guys take forever doing literally anything,"

"Sorry Cassie, we almost forgot,"

"No worries, let's just go play a game or something," Jacqui ends.

"Sounds good to us," Jin smiles.

"Us, Jin and I," I thought. I melt just thinking about it. 

The night passes quickly with us all having enough fun for a whole week. However, no matter how much excitement we were having I couldn't shake this feeling of uncertainty in my gut.

I wake up second after Jacqui wakes up, of course she always wakes up first, considering she's the daughter of an army man.

"Morning, Takeda," She greets.

"Good Morning," I reply.

"How'd you sleep," 

"Alright I guess,"

"Okay what's up dude," 

"Nothing, I promise," 

"I know you too well for you to lie to me, fess up." 

"Fine, it's just Jin,"

"What do you mean, I thought you guys were all back to being lovey dovey just last night,"

"Well we are, it's just I don't think he wants to be my boyfriend," 

"What makes you think that,"

"It's cuz he doesn't want to come out to his parents, because he's afraid of what they might do,"

"Oh dang, I'm sorry, but I don't think that means he doesn't wanna be with you, I think it just means he can't right now,"

"Is that any better though,"

"Yes actually, at least this way you know for a fact that if he could he would definitely be your boyfriend Takeda,"

"I guess, but I wish I could just show him it wouldn't be that bad if he told his parents he's gay,"

"Then do that, just try to convince him, if anyone can do it I think you could, Takeda,"

"Thanks Jacqui," I smirk.

"Anytime lover boy," She quips.

I lay back down to catch a little more sleep. I curl up in my blanket as we all respectively sleep on the floor. I shift and turn laying down realizing that Jin's hand is outstretched around my chest. I freeze not knowing whether to leave it or move it. 

I'm too lazy to bother so I just accept it and face towards him and let his arm just nicely hang around me. In these moments I long so badly for us to be together. 

When all of us wake up and Jin pretends like he wasn't basically just cuddling me all night, we all get dressed and decide to go out for lunch.

"LET'S GET TACOS," Cassie yells.

"Jesus Christ Cassie, chill out," I say covering my ears.

We end up at the local mexican restaurant, much to Cassie's excitement.

"Everybody order what you want, because today I'm the rich bitch," Cassie smirks.

Everyone orders their food and we all sit in a nicely lit booth off to the side. I sit next to Cassie to avoid any awkwardness between Jin and I. 

"So how is everybody, is everyone well, is anyone gay,.. I mean happy," Cassie purposefully coughs at me. 

"I'll take all of the above for 500 Alex," Jin chuckles.

I laugh at his sly remark. I never realize how clever he can be sometimes.

"You guys are dorks," I snicker.

"But you love us, some more than others," Jacqui eyes at Jin.

"Shut up Jacqui," I loudly whisper. 

"Haha, you guys do play around alot," I nervously respond.

"Always, but you know we always have to speak our minds, I wish everyone would," Cassie clearly kicks me under the table.

"Ouch, I mean yea but some people also needa learn to butt out of things,"      *kicks back*

"What's going on guys," Jin eyes.

"What do you mean," We laugh.

"You guys are acting funny,"

"No we're not, but Jacqui and I need to use the bathroom, we'll be right back though,"

"You guys just conversate till we get back," Jacqui ends.

As soon as they disappear into the Ladies' room everything just goes silent for a minute.

"Takeda," Jin begins.

"Yea,"

"What's going on,"

"What do you mean Jin,"

"Don't play dumb with me, I know something's up, your nose flares a little whenever you lie,"

"Really, omg,"

"Never mind that, just answer me please," He says placing his hand auspiciously close to mine.

"Aughhh, Fine," I start. "I may or may not have told Jacqui and Cassie that you weren't out to your parenrs and that I needed help to get you to do so," I wince.

"YOU DID WHAT," He screams.

"I'm sorry, okay I just love you and wanna be together, but you're too afraid and I'm sorry don't beat me up,"

"Hmph, okay okay, I'm not angry I just want you to tell me the truth next time, Takeda,"

"Okay I will, I just want to help you and be there for you, because if we can't be together I at least hope we can keep being friends," 

"Takeda, I don't wanna be friends though," 

"WHAT, why, I said I'm sorry, I won't ever do it again, I just  wanted to help, I love you please don't do this," I almost cry.

"Shut up Cry baby," He laughs. 

"Why,"

"Because I still love you, and the only reason I don't wanna be friends is cause I wanna be with you," 

"But, your parents,"

"Don't worry about them, it can be our secret and when the time comes I'll tell them, until then we're "undercover boyfriends","

"You're a dork, Jin," I chuckle.

"But I'm your dork now," He smiles.

"We're back!!!!!,"

"Yo dudes,"

"Anything happen while we were gone," 

"Nope," We smirk.


End file.
